The Mistletoe Incident & Other Christmas Tales
by Gaby Black
Summary: Threeshot for TheOriginal Hufflepuff's Christmas challenge 1: Sirius and Remus remember James as Christmas approaches. 2: James and Lily share their first kiss in what is later known to Sirius as The Mistletoe Incident. 3: Marlene McKinnon's last Christma
1. Remembering

Disclaimer: don't rub it in, the characters aren't mine...

Author's note: this is a response to **TheOriginalHufflepuff**'s Twelve Fics for Christmas challenge. Prompts I used in this one: _Firewhiskey_ and _all was well._

This will be a three-shot. The next ones will be James/Lily and Sirius/Marlene McKinon.

Please remember to leave a review, thanks!

* * *

To **Aimee**, obviously, because it's her challenge (and thanks for betareading!)

* * *

**Remembering**

Christmas was approaching, and fast. Sirius had always loved Christmas; actually, no, not always… He had hated it until he spent the Christmas holidays at the Potters in his sixth year. Before that, Christmas had meant nothing to him. His so-called family reunited to boast about being Blacks while they should have been happy just to be together, between people they loved, not people they shared blood with. His only good memory had been when he had been allowed to help Andy, Narcissa and Bellatrix bake the pudding and he had spat in it without anybody looking. During dinner he had been asked why he was laughing so much and what made him so cheerful, as though it was completely out of place to be happy on Christmas day. Andy had smiled at him, though, her dark eyes shimmering with delight just like her daughter's did now. It was the last Christmas Andy had spent with them.

But Christmas mostly reminded him of James. His heart ached as he realized how much he wanted James and Lily to be there. After all these years, he was still furious at the unfairness of it all.

"What are you doing, Padfoot?"

Sirius startled at the sound of Remus's voice, and reluctantly turned his gaze away from the window. Outside, the snow was falling, and Sirius wanted nothing more than to be able to go out.

"Thinking, you know… about him."

Remus nodded and made his way towards him, sitting down on the armchair by the fire. He didn't need to be told who Sirius was referring to. For a while they sat in silence, reminiscing.

"He really loved Christmas, didn't he?" Remus said softly, grinning.

"More than anyone I've ever known," Sirius chuckled. "He was like a child, so excited… He always got such a great pile of presents."

"But he was also very generous with us," Remus said fairly.

"Yeah…" Sirius whispered. "Do you remember, Remus, how he used to be always early for everything?"

"And he used to grumble because Peter was always late," Remus nodded.

Sirius tried to ignore the tension he felt at the mention of Peter's name, tried not to think that the traitor was still alive while James was not: he had spend enough time dwelling on that.

"If I was late he would sulk for two minutes, but he never managed not to talk to me for much longer," Sirius laughed softly. "Even when I annoyed him by reminding him of the Mistletoe Incident."

Remus smiled slightly and summoned two cups of tea. Sirius gratefully took his cup to warm his hands.

"He always laughed the loudest at my jokes, even if they weren't funny –"

"And you'd both tease me about my love life, or rather, lack of," Remus cut in, rolling his eyes.

Sirius smirked, his grey eyes teasing behind their Azkaban veil.

"I can still do that, you know… When are you going to make a move?"

"Make a move?" Remus repeated innocently.

"Don't give me a puzzled look, Moony! You're not that oblivious."

It was Remus's turn to smirk. "That coming from Mr Oblivious who took _years_ to figure out Marlene was in love with him –"

"Let's not talk about Marlene, alright?" Sirius interrupted harshly, smile sliding away instantly.

Remus bit his lip and looked away. "Sorry."

They remained silent for a while, until the smirk was back on Sirius's face.

"Let's talk about Tonks, instead."

Remus groaned. For a minute, it seemed that they were at Hogwarts again, two fifteen-year-olds teasing each other, enjoying every minute of it and pretending they weren't.

"What happened the other night after you kissed her?"

Remus frowned. "How do you know that?"

Sirius smiled brightly. "You should know by now that I know everything."

Remus glared at him, his amber eyes squinted, until Sirius held up his hands in surrender.

"Fine," Sirius rolled his eyes. "I heard Kreacher muttering it under his breath yesterday. Needless to say, he's not overenthusiastic about this relationship."

Remus looked pained. "I'd rather not have my love life discussed by your house-elf…"

"Well you could have told me, at least," Sirius pouted rather childishly. "No, I had to learn it from that ignoble creature… Anyway, are you and Tonks together?"

"Hmm… I guess," Remus said vaguely, finishing his cup of tea.

"You're annoying, you know that?" Sirius grumbled, but he was smiling slightly.

Remus grinned back thoughtfully, and Sirius thought that maybe Remus didn't really know the answer. Remus's next words confirmed his idea.

"I'm going to see her," Remus announced suddenly. "We do need to clear things out."

Sirius nodded. "Well, good luck, mate."

Remus gave a slight smile. "That's what I used to say to you when you left for a date, and you'd always reply –"

"I don't need luck, I'm Sirius Black," Sirius finished. "Yeah, I remember."

But the memory had a bittersweet taste to Sirius who was stuck inside the dreary house of his unhappy childhood; only accompanied by his old friend who was falling in love. Remus looked at him pointedly, as though he could read his mind. Sirius had always found that look unnerving.

"Easy on the Firewhiskey, Sirius."

"Yes, Mum," Sirius rolled his eyes. "No need to patronize me, Moony."

Remus studied Sirius's expression, frowning, and walked towards Sirius and put his hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Padfoot," Remus said gently.

Sirius knew he was sincere but he shrugged off Remus's hand all the same. He knew he shouldn't be so selfish.

"There's no need to feel guilty," Sirius grumbled. "You deserve to be happy."

Remus stared into Sirius's eyes as though looking for an answer and then he nodded firmly and Disapparated. Sirius sighed and stretched out lazily.

"_Accio_ Firewhiskey."

After all, he had never done as he was told; he wasn't going to change now.

He filled his glass more than usual so that he could pretend that all was well.


	2. The Mistletoe Incident

(prompts: _mirror, Patronus, victory, photograph, Quaffle_)

To **Lexie**, hoping she will enjoy this little piece of James/Lily fluff!

* * *

**The Mistletoe Incident**

Lily stood looking coyly at the boy in front of her, shifting from foot to foot as though she was embarrassed; in truth, she didn't even know if she was.

"James?"

James stopped boasting with Sirius about England's Quidditch team's latest victory (something, apparently hilarious, about a French player letting go of the Quaffle for no reason whatsoever) and looked up at her rather eagerly.

"What, Lily?"

James rejoiced in the simple action of saying her name; after all, he had been allowed to call her Lily only a few months ago. It was Christmas of their seventh year and things had never been better between them.

"There's something I want to tell you," Lily said quietly and somewhat mysteriously.

James's hazel eyes widened with anticipation. Had the time come at last? A few people in their surroundings stopped talking to look at them. Sirius was staring at Lily, his usual smirk playing on his lips. Peter looked almost as excited as James, and Remus was frowning, intrigued.

"What, Lily?" James repeated, his voice slightly hushed so as not to break the magic of the words he imagined would follow.

"Merry Christmas!" Lily said cheerfully. "It's two past midnight."

James's face fell; certainly, he had expected something else, along the lines of "I fancy you, James," or, "I've been so blind for years but now I can see," or something equally cheesy but adorable. Lily was looking right into his eyes; green was dancing with mirth, but hazel was deeply disappointed. Sirius threw his head back and howled with laughter at the crestfallen look on James's face.

"Your face –" Sirius gasped in between fits of laughter. "Your face, mate – it's _priceless_!"

The corners of Lily's mouth were twitching dangerously but she managed to resist the urge to snicker. She glanced briefly at Remus and saw that he was biting back a smile, too.

"Merry Christmas, Lily," James finally muttered gloomily.

Lily decided it was enough to make him pay for all the times he had been arrogant. He did look adorably disgruntled, after all, and there was a piece of mistletoe waiting for them in the corridor. But James recovered from his disappointment and, looked pointedly at Sirius, who was still sniggering.

"Remind me what your Patronus is, Lily?"

They had been covering Patronuses in DADA for the past month.

"A doe," Lily replied, frowning, "but what does this have to do with anything?"

James raised his eyebrows smugly and Sirius stopped laughing.

"Nothing," James grinned. "Just that I don't need to look at myself in a mirror to know who I am."

Lily goggled at him, puzzled, and laughed. "What's that, a Chinese proverb?"

The disgruntled look that was back on James's face just made her laugh harder.

"It's just something my mother says," James grumbled.

"Don't humiliate yourself more, mate," Sirius shook his head, patting James on the back.

Lily suddenly smiled kindly. "James, will you come with me for a minute?"

James shrugged casually; now he knew better than to show his hopes to everyone. He followed Lily out of the common room, pretending not to hear Sirius's unwelcome comment ("You'll tell me if redheads really do it better – ouch, Moony that hurt!"). Once they were in the corridor, Lily took a deep breath, suddenly feeling very nervous, and pointed at the mistletoe above them.

"Mistletoe," Lily said briskly.

James chuckled. "Yes, Lily, I can see it's mistletoe."

His eyes were twinkling again and Lily blushed deeply, looking down. He was playing that game. Problem was, even if she stood on tip-toes she could not reach his lips. She took a deep breath and looked up at him again. He had eyes like autumn leaves: warm and brown, with teasing flickers of gold as he smiled at her.

"You. Me. Christmas. Mistletoe. Kiss," Lily blurted out.

James smiled broadly and, after what seemed like ages to Lily, finally bent down to kiss her. He tasted a bit of Firewhiskey, but she didn't mind at all. Actually, she had even forgotten her own name.

"You do realize you were a bit incoherent, don't you?" James said softly, his whole face glowing with happiness.

"You make me incoherent," Lily whispered, grinning back at him.

They did not talk for a while. In the middle of another passionate kiss, Peeves suddenly and very unfortunately flew towards them and made the mistletoe fall on them, resting entangled in Lily's red mane. They were too shocked to even pull apart, and before they did they heard the sound of a photograph being taken. Expectedly, they turned to see Sirius holding a camera, his grey eyes laughing.

"I'm _so_ going to blackmail you with this! This will be known as the Mistletoe Incident!"

Lily was trying but failing to take the mistletoe off her hair. Sirius sniggered at every attempt she made.

"How so, Sirius?" James said calmly. "I don't mind everyone seeing a photograph of Lily and I kissing, even though she's got mistletoe in her hair."

In truth, Lily didn't particularly care either about the Mistletoe Incident, as Sirius had called it, because, after all, she had kissed James, had she not? However, she had the feeling Sirius would happily tell the story to her grandchildren.

"Which hurts, by the way," Lily remarked, finally managing to throw the mistletoe disdainfully on the ground.

But she didn't look too pained as she gazed lovingly at James, touched by what he has said. Sirius looked highly disappointed by the fact that he could not blackmail them with the photo, and, as they went back to the common room, he asked in a business-like tone:

"Can I sell it, then?"


	3. Rebellious Heart

**Rebellious Heart**

Marlene McKinnon was upstairs, making sure that her younger siblings were all in bed, and having trouble doing so, as usual.

"John! Leave Ben alone!" Marlene admonished her youngest brother, who was eight years old. "Go to sleep! You too, Terry! Good night."

Shaking her head, Marlene closed the door of her brothers' room to go to her sisters'. It was just past midnight on Christmas Eve of her twentieth winter and the burden of the ongoing war had momentarily been taken off her shoulders, her only duty being to be a second mother while the first one was cleaning downstairs.

"Good night, girls," Marlene said softly, smiling at her three sisters. "I'll go to bed soon, I just need to -"

Marlene trailed off as the doorbell rang.

"Marlene!" her mother shouted, having opened the door. "It's your friend Sirius!"

In spite of herself, Marlene felt her heart pounding faster.

"I'm coming!" she yelled back.

Marlene closed the door of her sisters' room and, as she raced down the stairs, she couldn't help but checked her reflection in the mirror. Her cheeks were slightly flushed (_because I've been running, yes of course_) even though she had not even seen him yet.

Her mother retreated in the kitchen when she arrived and she smiled at Sirius – his hair was full of snow.

"Surprise!" Sirius said, grinning back at her.

"Merry Christmas!" Marlene said cheerfully. "Come in, I won't let you freeze outside."

Sirius stepped inside and closed the door. "I'm already frozen anyway."

Marlene rolled her eyes. "I can see that, you idiot. Had to come with your motorbike, did you? You couldn't have Apparated."

Sirius shook his head and grinned apologetically.

Marlene leant against the wall and nervously tugged at her long blonde hair. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"We've decided to organize a kind of Christmas party for the Order members, as we don't get many occasions to celebrate, these days," Sirius replied. "So I came to fetch you."

"Sounds great," Marlene said sincerely. "Just let me get my cloak, looks like I'll need it if we're going to fly with your thing –"

"It's not a _thing_, Marlene," Sirius protested.

Marlene smiled. She would never admit that Sirius on his motorbike was incredibly sexy. She grabbed her coat and her wand.

"By the way, you look very pretty tonight," Sirius said.

_(But never pretty enough for you, Sirius.)_

"Thanks," Marlene said lightly. "By the way, where is the party?"

"At Dorcas's."

Marlene sighed of relief; Dorcas Meadowes didn't live too far from her house – she believed it would take them about ten minutes to get there. Dorcas and she had been in the same year at Hogwarts – they were both one year older than Sirius. She would always remember the first time she had really noticed him - it was near the end of her sixth year, when James had turned Snape upside-down near the lake. "You stupid, _stupid_ little boys!" Marlene had said, siding with Lily Evans. "When are you going to mature?". But somehow, probably due to Sirius's overwhelming charm, only months later they went to Hogsmeade together, shared a few kisses – but Marlene yearned for more, and Sirius only had time for his friends. Even though they had remained very good friends after he had left Hogwarts, too, her love for him had not diminished.

"Let's go," Sirius said, stepping outside. "I hope you're not afraid of heights."

Marlene glared at him. "I used to play Quidditch, you moron."

Sirius chuckled. "Oh yeah, I'd forgotten."

Marlene frowned. "You're not drunk, are you?"

Sirius, who had just climbed on his motorbike, turned to her with an innocent look. "_Me?_ Drunk?"

Marlene laughed, shaking her head (_Merlin I love him). _She cautiously climbed up behind Sirius, not wanting to admit that she _was_ a bit scared.

"Hold on to me, Lene," Sirius said.

Marlene put her arms around his waist and held tightly as he started on the engine, and didn't let go until they touched the ground again, about ten minutes later (_they've felt like centuries). _She got off and landed graciously on the snow-covered lawn, shivering with cold (_not because flying on that thing has been terrifying)_.

"Enjoyed the ride?" Sirius asked, smirking.

"Oh, shut up," Marlene laughed. "I'm never riding on that thing ever again."

Sirius shook his head. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Come on, let's get inside."

They came in the large house that was already filled with laughter; all the youngest members of the Order of the Phoenix were gathered by the fire with drinks in their hands.

"Merry Christmas, Marlene," Dorcas greeted her with a broad smile. "Are you alright? You look a bit dizzy."

"She didn't like flying," Sirius explained, his grey eyes twinkling. "I thought she was going to be sick –"

Marlene rolled her eyes. "You always exaggerate everything. I'm feeling perfectly fine."

Sirius smirked. "Yeah, sure."

Marlene hit his arm playfully. "You're just an arrogant little bastard, you know that?"

"Oh, he knows," Lily said earnestly and Dorcas nodded.

Sirius feigned to be aggrieved. "Women, you're all so mean to me – I'll just go and sit with James and get drunk."

Lily looked torn between her will to laugh and to glare at him reprovingly, which resulted in a very peculiar look on her face.

"Make sure James is able to Apparate home," Lily just said.

"Are you entrusting Sirius with any form of responsibility?" Remus called from his place on the couch; himself had a glass of Firewhiskey in his hand. "Lily, I thought you knew better."

Lily shrugged and smiled as Sirius made his way towards where James sat.

James stood up and called for everyone's attention. "It's time to open that bottle of champagne!"

Lily groaned as all the young men cheered.

"Come on, Lily love, my parents brought it home from France," James pleaded.

Lily couldn't help but smiled. "Alright, but just one glass for me… and don't call me Lily love!"

She ended up having four of them – blame it on the French champagne.

* * *

Three hours later they were all more or less drunk (_how great it feels to be relieved from all the tension!_) and dancing to the wireless.

"May I have the next dance, my lady?" Sirius asked Marlene, who was listening to Fabian and Gideon Prewett's jokes.

"With pleasure," Marlene replied, deposing her last glass of champagne on the table.

And so they started to dance; nobody was paying any attention to them and Marlene rested her head on Sirius's shoulder. He kissed the top of her head and she could feel his hot breath on her skin.

"Lene, did I ever tell you that you were my favourite girlfriend?" Sirius whispered.

"Really?" Marlene exclaimed, the disbelief clear in her voice.

"Yeah."

He held her hand tighter. She felt her cheeks colouring.

"But we didn't even… you know –"

Sirius gave his bark-like laughter. "I'm not obsessed by sex, in spite of my reputation."

(_Oh dear my face must be purple by now._)

"I didn't mean that," Marlene protested feebly.

"Nah, I know what you meant," Sirius said softly. "I ended it soon because I was afraid…"

Sirius trailed off and looked away.

"Afraid of what?" Marlene murmured, and Sirius could barely hear her over the music, but he'd known what she would ask anyway.

"Afraid of falling in love."

They danced in silence for a while; she was trying to process the information, while he was wondering if he didn't regret voicing his thoughts.

"I killed the mood, didn't I?" Sirius said jokingly.

Marlene forced a smile. "I just… you know, I thought you didn't like me."

"Didn't like you? Lene, are you that blind? I mean, I'm not wearing my heart on my sleeve alright, but… I thought you knew I liked you. I thought you knew that… I don't think I've ever been in love, but with you I think it's been… pretty close."

Marlene took a deep breath. "What am I supposed to say to this, Sirius?"

Sirius looked into her wide blue eyes and shook his head. "I have no idea. I'm sorry."

"What do _you_ want to do?"

His reply was quick. "I want to kiss you."

"Then go ahead," Marlene said quietly. "It's Christmas."

Sirius kissed her gently at first, and she closed her eyes and remembered stolen moments in broom cupboards and jokes and her making Sirius laugh. When they pulled back they saw that James, Lily, Peter and Remus were leaving.

"Let's leave, too," Sirius said.

Marlene was in a daze as they said their goodbyes and she was barely aware of Sirius's best friends Disapparating and winking at Sirius. Before she could wonder what to do, he was kissing her again. This time, his kiss was rough, as was everything about him.

"Your place or mine?" Sirius asked with a dizzy smile, tucking a strand of her golden hair behind her ear.

Marlene sighed as his hand began stroking her cheek gently. _Oh, what the hell?_ she thought. _We might be dead tomorrow._

"Yours," Marlene replied.

* * *

She enjoyed her last Christmas with the one she loved until the early hours of dawn. When the bleak wintry sun rose she was slumbering peacefully in his arms and he was stroking her hair thoughtfully, unable to find peace himself.

Two months later she was gone and it was only then that he realized what he had been missing. She had left her watch on his nightstand (had never asked him for it) and her warm smile in his rebellious heart.

Out of love or out of guilt he never knew, but he fought for her until the end.

* * *

**Please review! Reviews are the only payment fanfic authors receive. Even if it's just a word or two, leaving a review lets me know you've passed this way. Thank you!**


End file.
